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- [00:00]
Jason
T Mobile stats are as impressive as.
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Pete Zayas
Your favorite athlete's highlight reel because T.
- [00:04]
Jason
Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network. Switch now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off up to $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com keepandswitch up to 4 lines of your virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualifying unlock device, credit service support in 90 plus days device knowledgeable carrier and timely redemption required. Card has no cash access and expires in six months.
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Talkspace
You know when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself? Talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner or just need a little extra one on one support, Talkspace is here for you. Plus Talkspace works with most major insurers and most insured members have a $0 copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code SPACE80 when you go to talkspace.com match with a licensed therapist today at Talk. Save $80 with code SPACE80@Talkspace.com.
- [01:33]
Pete Zayas
The 40s and free agents Podcast with Daniel Jeremiah and Greg Rosenthal has prepared you for the 2025 NFL Draft.
- [01:40]
Daniel Jeremiah
We've told you what last year's playoff teams need to return to the postseason.
- [01:44]
Pete Zayas
And how teams with new coaches should approach the draft.
- [01:46]
Daniel Jeremiah
So as draft season comes to a close, we've got you covered. Before your favorite team goes on the clock, we'll break it all down once all 257 picks have been made.
- [01:55]
Pete Zayas
Listen to the 40s and free agents podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [02:06]
Talkspace
The volume.
- [02:10]
Jason
The NBA 82 game grind is done and now the real fun begins. The NBA Playoffs are here and it's time for all the high stakes drama, clutch moments and jaw dropping plays. I can't wait if you're looking to make the playoffs even more exciting DraftKings sportsbook has you covered as an official sports betting partner of the NBA. From the playing games all the way through to the Finals, now's the time to back your favorite players and teams as they chase glory. All season long, DraftKings has been the go to spot for NBA player props, and that does not stop now. Want to make your playoff experience even more intense? Try placing a bet on your favorite player's performance. Will they drop 30 points? 40 or more? It's your call. Ready to place your first bet? Download the DraftKings sportsbook app now. Lock in your bets. Let's make this playoff run unforgettable. Here's something special for first timers. New DraftKings customers bet $5 to get $200 in bonus bets instantly. Make it a playoff run to remember with DraftKings. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use code HOOPS. That's H O O P S. That's code hoops for new customers to get $200 in bonus bets. When you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York. Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY to 467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. 21 plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void In Ontario, new customers only. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng co Audio. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the Volume. Happy Friday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week. We're going to be reacting to that incredible game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota timberwolves, tied at 103 with about four minutes left. And then Anthony Edwards happened and a moment that I thought demonstrated a lot of his growth over the course of this last season and the postseason last year and some of the mistakes he had dealt with in the past. We're going to be breaking that game down from the perspective of both teams. I was doing a live stream with my buddy Pete Zayas from Laker Film Room during the game, so that interfered with my ability to cover the other two games tonight, but I'm covering them tomorrow morning. So Magic, Celtics, Pacers, Bucks, we'll be hitting those games in tomorrow morning's show, but today just Lakers, Timberwolves and Then we'll do a mailbag from the audience from the chat at the tail end of the show and then we'll get out of here for the night. You guys know the drill before we get started, subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at_jason lt so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. We also have social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook where Jackson's making great content throughout the year. Make sure you guys follow us. There's and then last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments so we can keep getting to them throughout the remainder of the postseason. All right, let's Talk Some Basketball. So as mentioned before, about 103103 with about 4 minutes left, I was on the playback stream with Pete Zayas and shout out to Pete. He's does incredible work, love talking basketball with him. But we had been discussing throughout the game the reality that has been throughout this series that the Lakers are just a little bit more comfortable in the half court creating offense than Minnesota. As long as they can control the controllables, right? Like stay out of transition, don't turn the basketball over. You know, keep your body positioned properly to force the wolves to make decisions and to make shots over the top. Essentially what I've been referring to in this series is like hanging onto the rope. If they can hang onto the rope they're fine, but if they don't hang onto the rope they're going to lose. And even with that last stretch that we saw from Anthony Edwards in that game, the lakers logged a 99 offensive rating in the half court and The Wolves logged a 92 offensive rating in the half court. There was 28 points off of 19 Laker turnovers. Some of the dumbest turnovers that I've ever seen from that team. Just coughing the ball up right underneath the basket like like not protecting it after rebounds, trying to throw passes to guys two feet away that are not ready for the basketball. The Lakers just looked really sloppy and undisciplined and that got them into a close game late. And in a close game late, Anthony Edwards actually turned out to be the better half court shot creator. So regardless of what the numbers say, we had a 103103 with 4 minutes left. Mostly half court basketball And Ant just badly outplayed the Laker half court shot creators. Obviously, context there being Luca, whatever the illness that he was dealing with tonight. But what really impressed me specifically was the way that Anthony Edwards got the job done. They started moving his ISOs to the top of the key, which I thought was interesting. The ISOs that he had been running on the slot, meaning like more towards the wing. They allow the Lakers to be more planned in their approach. So for instance, with Anthony Edwards on the right slot, right wing, that defender is going to overplay the middle and try to funnel Anthony towards the player who's digging down off the corner and the guy who's helping out from under the rim, effectively making him play one on three on his drives. We talked about this in our film sessions. A lot of Ant's layups in this series have been ripped through the primary defender. Gather through the the guy digging down from the corner and then some sort of slaloming move around the dude at the rim so that he can get a layup. They move him to the top of the key. And one of the things that that does is it puts Ant in a position where the defender guarding him has to square him up. One of the reasons why that matters is on the wing when you can overplay a side, you can actually use that arm that you're using to overplay the side to get closer on the pull up jump shot because you're less worried about giving up dribble penetration because you have more of a plan for it. But that's top of the key there. If you lean up like that, you can give up dribble penetration and be in some trouble. And so he was able to hit two step back threes in one on one situations where he was able to shed the defender. That first one against Luka at the top of the key big part of that is he's got Lucas squared up. He's able to get that, you know, little bit of backwards momentum so that he can do that pullback dribble in and get separation for his shot. And like as I was talking about with Pete on the broadcast, like the Lakers kind of have to live with that. There's a certain amount of Anthony Edwards pull up three that they're going to have to live with unless they start doubling, which we did see a little bit of. And I do think we'll see some more of that later in the series, but we'll talk about that in a minute. The play that I thought demonstrated the growth was the assist to Nas Reed off the left wing. So he hits the step back over Luka. It's 106, 103, and he gets a drive along the right baseline, and instead of trying to force something up, he elevates and rifles a pass to Nas Reed on the left wing and he knocks down a three. Those reads have been there for Ant throughout the series. We talked about in game two in our film session. It wasn't so much that the late like the Lakers did compete more than they did in game one, but the same reads were available. The strong side corner reads were there. And it didn't make it a single time in Game 2 after he made it several times in Game 1, the skip pass was there. He was getting into the teeth of the defense and some of those passes were getting deflected or getting sent into areas where they were tougher for guys to attack off of in tonight's game. Just decisive down the stretch, knew exactly what he wanted to do. Rifles that pass to Nas Reed, he knocks down the three, gets LeBron in a switch, crosses him up and gets into the basket for a layup. Just surgical down the stretch. That was the difference. It was 1 03, 1 03. They end on a 13 to 1 run fueled almost entirely by Anthony Edwards in his half court shot creation. That's really the thing. Like as I mentioned, the Wolves have these overwhelming advantages in the margins, right? Like they are the bigger, more athletic team. They forced 19 turnovers tonight that lead to 28 points. They have 56 points in the paint compared to just 26 for the Lakers. If Anthony Edwards can shrink the half court gap with that level of shot making, with that level of decision making, that's where the Wolves have the potential to end this series sooner than later. Because if they're the better half court team and they're the better, you know, like, detailed margin team, that's where they can end up in some trouble. Now there's obviously going to be games in the series where Luca doesn't look like he did tonight. I thought Luca looked like an absolute shell of himself on in every phase of the game. There was a clear and concerted effort from the Wolves early in the game to attack Luca in ISO. We even saw that down the stretch with the shot that Ant hit. That was inevitable. We heard a ton of that after the game in the press conferences. We had a feeling that the Wolves coaching staff would emphasize that they did. The Timberwolves made a very concerted effort to attack Luca and it was exacerbated by the fact that Luka just looked slow. The, the, the dead giveaway that you could tell Luka wasn't himself was he looked surprised by ball pressure and he looked surprised by help defense, but like getting into the teeth of the defense and drawing a second body and then just trying to shoot and getting blocked or Jaden McDaniels jumping him along the left wing on one of his early catches with some ball pressure. And Luka just looked like he was just like surprised by it as he coughed the ball up. Like there was just a, like this was, this was a game where, where Luca was unable to overcome the physical circumstances that he was dealing with. And I thought that that really hurt the Lakers down the stretch. As great as LeBron was, and obviously LeBron was incredible tonight on both ends of the floor, his shot making was the best we've seen from him since he came back from his groin injury. That pull up transition three he hit was like one of the most difficult shots I've seen him take under the circumstances. Kind of reminded me of the shot Steph hit against Amend Thompson near half court where it was like sprinting to his right kind of forward, just left, right footwork elevates, just sticks it. You could just tell he just had great lift and he stuck it. But LeBron is not going to be able to really create offense in the half court as effectively as Luka can when he's right. And that was really the difference in the game tonight. When they got it to 103-103-103, it was going to be Anthony Edwards versus Luka Doncic and Luka just didn't have it tonight. And Anthony Edwards showed what his ultimate potential is. I was talking with Pete on the broadcast, like, it's been really hard for me in this series because all of you guys who are longtime listeners of the show know that Anthony Evers is one of my favorite players. And having to root against him is not a fun experience. Um, but I have so much excitement for Ant with his big picture potential simply because of the fact that there's really nothing you can do to stop him from either creating a clean look for himself or him being able to dart through the lane, elevate and make a high level kickout pass. You can't stop him from doing one of those two things. The shot that he gave up that he hit on dfs, the shot that he hit on Luka, you have to concede those. If you take them away, he will go right around you all night long. And so really that that's the big Picture potential with Ant. That's so exciting. Once he learns to really read all these defensive schemes that, that is, that is where he's going to be able to just oscillate between high level aggression, high level kick out passes based on, you know, what the defense is giving or taking away from him. And that's where he's going to be able to float his, his offense for larger portions of games through higher level playmaking. There's so like this kid is barely scratching the surface of what he's capable of being as a basketball player. And it's, it's, it's scary to think about 27 year old aunt when he still has the 45 inch vertical or whatever the hell he has and he still is the 42% high volume, 10 threes a game type of guy, but a guy that can get up into that 5, 6, 7 assists per game, high level kickout reads really starting to become the half court surgeon. And like, you know, before the season I said Anthony Edwards was the fifth best player in the league that I would pick to lead a franchise from the start of the season throughout to the through the NBA Finals. And there was a another side to that take involving me bumping Tatum down to seven, which ended up being the wrong part of that. Tatum was fantastic again tonight, at least for the parts that I watched. And I think that if you were to list the top four players in the league, it's pretty clearly Jokic, it's, it's Giannis, it's Shay Gilders, Alexander, it's Jason Tatum, maybe Luka again at some point soon if he can get physically right. But Anthony Edwards to me is arguably that fifth guy. So here we are in April and ant through the course of this season from October to now has shown the growth as a jump shooter, has shown the growth as a half court shot creator. Think about it in game one too. He was fantastic in game one. Nine assists, one turnover. He's been playing at a higher level as a half court decision maker than he has at any point in his career. And I think you can make the case that he's encroaching on that top tier of guys with the level of play that he's reaching. I think that the Lakers are going to have to start considering double teaming him. We saw a little bit of it towards the end of the game right after he already put things away, specifically picking him up earlier in the possession out towards half court. The Wolves are not very attentive in those situations. Flashing and quickly breaking down the defense in those situations, I think the Lakers are going to have to consider doing that if Ant continues to find that kind of groove in the fourth quarter. It's not something that I would just bring out first quarter right away, but it's something that I would consider pulling out a little sooner in game, in Game 4 than JJ pulled it out in Game 3. But all around just much smarter approach from the wolves tonight, attacking Luca instead of just, you know, hunting the Lakers better perimeter defenders, Anthony Edwards, the half court surgeon down the stretch and then they are the physically dominant team. They were able to get the Lakers to let go of the rope tonight. There were so many examples of them just, just getting sloppy, rushing and like Austin Reaves had a few turnovers where you could just tell he's rushing, he's struggling against the ball pressure, he's dribbling the ball off his knee or losing control of it one way or the other. You know, Jared Vanderbilt looked like he was a little sped up tonight. You know, like Rui Ot Mura looked like he was a little sped up tonight. There was just a lot of examples where the Wolves in their pressure caused the Lakers to let go of the rope. And their pathway is very simple. Even with what Ant showed tonight, even with the attacks of Luca, the Lakers are the better half court team if they can keep things in the half court and they don't turn the basketball over and they just surgically go about the process of creating advantages and playing off of it. They can win the series, but it's going to be tough and it doesn't look good with the way that this series breaks down from a schedule standpoint. Now, I talked a lot over the course of the last couple days how I viewed game three as a game the Lakers kind of needed because they don't just turn around and play on Sunday, they turn around and play on Sunday at a 12:30 pip. So some basic math that's less than 40 hours from now that they have to turn around. That LeBron after that game has to get his body right, that Luca after dealing with food poisoning has to get his body right. And you know, this is the thing, it's super unfortunate, like win or lose, whether it's Minnesota or LA that ends up advancing, I'd rather see it happen with both teams at full strength. But you don't get, you don't get to. You don't get to take a day, you don't get to call in. And we were joking about it on the live stream, like it's it's not like I've had food poisoning before. I know you guys all have it's pretty shitty feeling. There's a lot of laying around. There's a lot of like, oh, I stood up for a minute. Now I immediately feel nauseous. There's a lot of like, horrible feeling that comes with that. Can you imagine if it was like, oh, shit, I gotta go play the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight. Like, it's, it's. It's crazy to not just to play the Minnesota Timberwolves, but to have to play them in a high level, high leverage playoff game. And. But it is what it is. Everyone's dealing with certain types of ailments, whether they be physical, whether they be with health. And, you know, Luca just wasn't able to overcome it tonight. And down the stretch, they just didn't have a go to action that they could go to. You could tell. I mean, Luca had two ISOs down the stretch, one against Jaden and one against Julius where he just didn't get any separation. And he's like trying to throw. He got Jalen, Jaden, excuse me, along the left kind of short corner area where, you know, Luca did his patented, like, little fake step back, pump fake, and Jaden was just all over it. And he had to rifle a cross court pass to the right corner that wasn't really open. He went at Julius Randall, and Julius Randall forced him to pick up his dribble around the right block. Like, Luca literally wasn't even getting separation down the stretch. And even the shots that he was making tonight, like the shot that he hit over Julius Randle on the left wing, like, that was an insanely difficult shot. Like, he's not getting separation in this game because of the physical ailment that he's dealing with. And so the pathway for the Lakers to get back into a position where they're in control of this series, they can get home court just by winning one. The Wolves stole one. They got to steal one in game four. They need to hang onto the rope. They need a better performance from Luca. They need to maintain the rhythm that we saw from Austin and LeBron. Austin early hits a couple threes. You could tell he was over six in game one. But he got some clean looks. He found a way to get some of those to go. I thought throughout the game, the, like, the Lakers shot really well from three in this game, but I thought there were a lot of really good looks. LeBron hit a couple tough pull ups. Austin hit a couple, A couple tough pull ups. Luka hit a couple, hit one in particular on that left wing. That was pretty tough. But the Rui catch and shoot threes, those are clean looks. The DFS catch and shoot threes, those are clean looks. The Gabe Vincent catch and shoot threes, those are clean looks. A lot of Austin's were clean looks. If they can take care of the ball, keep the game in the half court, execute their offense, they can, they can win this series. But they have now put themselves in a position where they got to win three of the next four. And that's just really hard to do under any circumstances, certainly when two of those games are going to be in Minnesota. So it's a tough spot to be Want to keep your personal number private, but still stay connected with line two you can get a second phone line right on your device with a super simple app and no need for another phone. Whether it's for online shopping, dating or shielding your main number from spam, Line two is an easy way to manage it all ready for peace of mind without breaking the bank call, text block and more for only $9.99.
- [21:29]
Greg Rosenthal
Get started with line2.com audio or download.
- [21:33]
Pete Zayas
Line2 in any app store today.
- [21:35]
Greg Rosenthal
Line 2 your second line simplified.
- [21:41]
Jason
The.
- [21:42]
Pete Zayas
40S and free agents Podcast with Daniel Jeremiah and Greg Rosenthal has prepared you for the 2025 NFL Draft.
- [21:48]
Daniel Jeremiah
We've told you what last year's playoff teams need to return to the postseason.
- [21:52]
Pete Zayas
And how teams with new coaches should approach the draft.
- [21:55]
Daniel Jeremiah
So as draft season comes to a close, we've got you covered. Before your favorite team goes on the clock, we'll break it all down. Once all 257 picks have been made.
- [22:03]
Pete Zayas
Listen to the 40s and free agents podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [22:13]
Jason
So we're gonna let's open it up to the chat now. We can get into any more details about the series that you guys want to if you guys have any specific questions about tonight. But we can also get into some of the other series. Just remember I have not seen Bucks Pacers at all and I only saw about the first 2/3 of that Celtics magic game.
- [22:30]
Greg Rosenthal
We definitely got a lot of questions about this game. First up, last year Luca dominated the one on one matchup with Jaden McDaniels. You've obviously talked a lot about that. What is different this year?
- [22:40]
Jason
Jaden has done a better job with his physicality and his pressure in this series. But like I thought all night long tonight, Luka just Didn't have his burst. I thought Luka was just a shell of himself. I mean it. All you have to do is look at the box score. Five turnovers, 6 for 16 from the field, 17 points. Like Luka has had high point totals consistently in the Lakers last several games. Let me see if I can pull it up. But like, yeah. 31, 37, 39, 45, 23, 30, 35. That's the last, you know, eight or so games that Lucas played. It's 17 tonight. He had 68 points against the Timberwolves in the first two games. It's just, he just didn't have the burst tonight. It is what it is. You don't get to take. You don't get a rain check. You don't get to replay game three. It just, it is what it is. The Lakers had to win with the shell Luka tonight and they couldn't get it done.
- [23:31]
Greg Rosenthal
Another question about the Lakers defense. Hey, Jason Duke from Ghana here. Don't you think the Lakers are over helping on ants drives? Reducing the number of players helping on his drives will sort of help with those wolves kick out threes.
- [23:43]
Jason
No, because I think, I think Ant. Ant has in many cases tried to force the issue through those situations. And I still think your pathway forward is to force Ant to beat you with the pass. So like he's done it twice in this series so far. 29 points, 8 assists tonight. But in theory, throughout the rest of this series, you want him beating you with the pass. You want him beating you with. Force him to make that kickout read over and over again. Like does he make that same kickout Read if it's 1-07-1103 Lakers with a little lead late in the game? Or does he force the issue like you still want to prey on his inconsistency? For the record, Ant has zero assists in game two. So that game plan can work. It just, it's, it's. It's about playing into his youthful inconsistency.
- [24:32]
Greg Rosenthal
Yeah, I, I agree. I mean I think there's. He's so dynamic downhill and he's become such a good three point shooter. He literally led the league this season and makes that he, he has, through his hard work has created. He's made his game almost impossible to defend. Like you don't have a good option. What are you supposed to do? Let him just ISO and not help and let him finish over the Lakers lack of rim protection? They don't have any room protectors. It's a lot easier to, to say we're not going to crack. We're not going to over help if you have Rudy Gobert on the inside, for example, than it is if you have Jackson Hayes or Rui Hachimura or whoever is on the back line, you know. Next question. Why are the Lakers not utilizing Vando more on Ant? Is his offense really making him unplayable?
- [25:16]
Jason
Vando has been really mistake prone in the series. He had a decent first half shift but like he had that play where he fouled Julius Randle cause he like failed to pick him up in transition. There was. What was the mistake he made in the sec. Oh yeah, where he gets that defensive rebound and like Nikhil Alexander Walker is like running right up to him and he just holds the ball out and lets Nikhil Alexander Walker take the ball away from him. He's just, he's just been a little, he's been a step slow in his reads. There was a Luca turnover on a blitz where when think of like the Steph Curry blitz sequence that we've seen a thousand times. Draymond short rolls out of it, Steph floats the ball over the top, Draymond goes down the lane, someone steps over and helps either sprays it to the corner, he drops it off to a cutter for a dunk, right. There was a sequence where Jared Vanderbilt was the screener. Luca got blitzed and instead of short rolling out of it, he rolled all the way to the rim. And when he rolled all the way to the rim, Luca did not have a play that a player that he could pass the ball to right in the middle of the floor. And so Luca had to try to force a pass all the way down to Vando on the like dunker spot area and ended up in a turnover. Like there a couple things. Vando can do a decent job on Ant, but the job of guarding Ant is a five man job. It is not a one man job. And there's just too much mistake making and not enough on offense to justify high minute totals for Jared Vanderbilt. I still think ultimately this series goes down with their core five guys being Dorian, Finney Smith as the fifth with those guys all playing like 42, 43 minutes in a big game.
- [26:47]
Greg Rosenthal
Yeah, the mistakes across the board were rough tonight. I mean the lakers had what, 19 turnovers and. And it felt like five or six of them were either fumbled passes or dribbled off their leg.
- [26:58]
Jason
Yeah, like, like that's crazy. Luka got a defensive rebound and saw Austin flash in front of him. And instead of just bringing the ball up the floor like he's always done. He like tried to throw the ball to Austin from two feet away and it just bounced off his lap and went right to Anthony. Like that was what happened on the play where Aunt dunked on Luka and dunked on Luka because Luka coughed the ball up. LeBron on his hot streak, he gets on his hot streak, catches the ball up on the right wing, immediately just coughs the ball up. And like every single one of those cough ups like, immediately led to like an and one or a dunk or like, like the Wolves made them pay every single time that you gave up 30 points on turnovers in a game that was tied with 4 minutes left. Like it, like this was. Pete and I were joking during the stream. Like, that's a game you deserve to lose. Like the basketball gods are not going to let you win a game where you play that sloppy. And I'd like Ant. Ant was great all night and he pulled it out late with his own, with his individual greatness. But like the Lakers didn't play well enough to deserve to win that game. They were lucky to be into it the way they were, thanks to the shot making of LeBron James and Austin Reeves.
- [28:11]
Greg Rosenthal
Yeah, I would have been a complete theft if they were able to come up with that game. What are your. You talked on this briefly, but what are your thoughts on LeBron's ability to have a highly impactful game on Sunday? Considering the short Turnaround?
- [28:25]
Jason
I think LeBron's going to be fine on Sunday. Do I think he's going to go for 38 again? Probably not, but. But like, I think I. LeBron is the most dependable big game player that I've, that I've personally ever seen because of his floor being so high. Um, if my entire life as a LeBron fan, every time I've gone into a truly big game, which game? Four is a big game. You go down three one. It's really hard to come now you got to win three times in a row against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Like if the Lakers are going to win the series, they need to win on Sunday. LeBron knows that you can guarantee at least 27 and 5 and Draymond Green esque defense on Sunday. They're not like, like, to me the swing factor is Luka Luca needs to have a massive bounce back game on Sunday. He like, like owes it to the team. And like, I get it. What happened to him was super unfortunate. But ultimately they lost this game because their best player was a complete and total shell of himself. So, like, they need Luka to get the IV fluids, get in LeBron's hyperbaric chamber, do whatever the hell he needs to do. Hell, if it's a beer that he needs to get to get back in shape. Like, do something, get him back on his feet. And, like, Luka needs to be amazing on Sunday.
- [29:42]
Greg Rosenthal
What do you make of LeBron, Ant and Conley laughing and joking around during that late review? Do you care at all? Do you not care?
- [29:50]
Jason
I don't care at all. Like, did you. Did you guys feel like LeBron wasn't competing? Did you guys feel like Mike Conley wasn't competing? Did you guys feel like Anthony Edwards wasn't competing? Like, those guys were, like, putting it all on the line on the floor? Like. Like, to me, like, LeBron and Ant were Team USA teammates. And LeBron has famously been a guy that will make somewhat light of big moments. Like, you remember when he hit the pull up three right after Paul George dunked all over the Birdman, and then he, like, went up and, like, went up to Paul George is like, hey, we're playing some great basketball here. Like, that's the thing you gotta remember, too. Like, that was a hell of a game, guys. That was a show. LeBron and Ant put on a show tonight. We were treated as basketball fans to an incredible basketball game. And I feel like there is. There are some moments where those guys are out there and like, hey, what we're doing is pretty cool here.
- [30:37]
Greg Rosenthal
This is a funny question from Miles. What did you say when Conley banked in that three?
- [30:42]
Jason
I thought he banked it in on purpose. Well, so if I remember correctly, Luca got beat on a baseline crash by Conley. And then after Conley got the rebound, he dribbled out to the wing. But it was so visibly obvious, like, two feet off to the left, off of his hand, that I just. Mike Conley had to have tried to bank that on purpose. It was a decent look, too. Like, he had a decent amount of separation.
- [31:04]
Greg Rosenthal
He was laughing, coming down the other.
- [31:06]
Jason
Do you think?
- [31:07]
Greg Rosenthal
It was lucky, but either way, man, that's a. Banked in three in the fourth quarter of a play. Playoff game is crazy.
- [31:13]
Jason
Oh, my gosh.
- [31:15]
Greg Rosenthal
What is your opinion on Rudy Gobert's impact in this game and throughout the series? His statistics as well as his offensive impact are almost non existent, but it feels like he's sparked a couple runs, especially in the first quarter.
- [31:26]
Jason
Rudy, I thought was good tonight. They ran a lot more diversified coverages with him tonight. Like, and this is where it's like, yeah, I think it's so funny. There was such. There was such a conversation surrounding the Rudy GOBERT and the ISOs, and there's a lot of, like, numbers getting thrown around. My read in game two was that Luca had solved the Go Bear switches in the second half. He had generated back to back, wide open catch and three, catch and shoot threes attacking Rudy and isos, one of which was a Dorian Finney Smith one that he made. The Lakers had been getting 1.07 points per ISO, just counting shot attempts, not even counting passes as a team against Rudy in the first two games. So, like, for all of the talk, like the coaching, the players and coaches will tell you what they think. And they came into game three and they stopped switching with Rudy. So that, that should tell you guys what the Minnesota coaching staff felt about Rudy Gobert defending in switches on the perimeter. They did randomly switch with him once in the second half, and he jumped up on Luca and forced a turnover. But once again, Luca just like, like surprised by ball pressure. Like, I. I like one of the most bizarre Luca games I've ever seen. And I'm just chalking it up to the food poisoning and throwing it out because I refuse to believe he would play like that under normal circumstances. But they ran a lot of drop coverage. They blitzed with him a few times tonight, some at the level coverage, and Luka just. Luca wasn't able to attack it the way that he usually did. But overall, I thought Rudy was fine tonight. They won his minutes. Like, I think in general, like, he has. He has provided enough positive impact to justify the minutes that he's been getting. The Lakers have been unable to like, play him off the floor. We did see when Luka attacked him along that right lane line and bumped him with that left shoulder and hit that little hook. That was a drop coverage possession. It kind of looked like a switch cause he was attacking Luke Rudy one on one. But it was a drop coverage possession. And after that shot, they did bail on him and go to Nas Reed. But I think that could have just been easily been for offense. And it was Nasrid who literally ended up hitting a three on that critical possession late. So, like, I'd argue that Chris Finch made the right call there for sure.
- [33:38]
Greg Rosenthal
We can take a couple from some away from this series. Hey, Jason, love the show. What has been your favorite series to watch so far these playoffs?
- [33:46]
Jason
That's a really good question. Pistons, Knicks. I just. There's a lot of players in that series that I really like that Pistons team to me has a lot of likable guys that I think are going to be fun guys to like root for for the Pistons over the course of the next half decade. I would say I've gotten a good amount of enjoyment out of Celtics magic too. I really enjoyed watching that game today. Yeah. And like, even though like I will say some of these Palo mid range jump shots are like eyesores to me and it just kills me that he won't work a little closer to the back.
- [34:29]
Greg Rosenthal
I thought it was really funny how on the broadcast I was watching very closely as a Celtics fan how Jay Billis was like, basically or no, it was Tim Legler. And I think Tim Legler is usually great at these, at this kind of stuff. So I'm not taking a shot at really at Tim Legler because I really am a big fan of his. But in this game he was like those, those mid range pull ups when he creates space are basically a layup for Paolo.
- [34:49]
Jason
I was like, well, not exactly.
- [34:50]
Greg Rosenthal
I don't know about that.
- [34:53]
Jason
Yeah, I'm gonna pull up. I now I'm curious. I want to see what, what Paolo's shooting from the mid range in this postseason. But it's, it's, it's one of those things where the, even with the, there's a lot of like tough off the dribble mid range jump shots that are getting taken in that series. But it is just fun because the Magic crowd was great. The Magic are super big. It's been big and physical and they can play the Celtics into some uncomfortable stretches. But to me, and I don't know if you feel this way, Jackson, even with the loss, the Celtics are still putting together some of the prettiest stretches of basketball, two way basketball that I'm seeing in the league right now. And, and they had a couple tonight. Like they had that run right before the half. Tatum had this stretch where he just like went down, boom. Pull up three, went down tough, right shoulder fade, bam. Went down tough. Pull up three at the top of the key. Like they will just blitz you in these like short periods of time and make leads just completely disappear. I, I, I, I would say, yeah, Magic, Celtics and then Pistons, Pistons, Knicks have been two of my absolute favorites. While you're asking the next question, I'll pull up the, the numbers from Paolo.
- [35:54]
Greg Rosenthal
Yeah, I think my, my favorites before the game. The last two games were the Nuggets, Clippers and the Warriors Rockets. Game one of that series, but then game two of that series and game three of Clippers nuggets were both blowouts, so kind of lost a little bit of the luster for me.
- [36:09]
Jason
But really quickly. 20, 24 points on 26 shots from the mid range so far. So he's been good. That's, that's solid for mid range basketball in the, in the postseason. In the regular season, he was 31% on long twos outside of 17ft, but he was 51% inside of 17ft, which is literally the point that I'm trying to make. Like the point that I'm trying to make is that like he actually has such imposing size that he can get short range shots that are high, like highly efficient. But as soon as he gets out to the elbows and out, it just turns into not a layup to, to, to counter Tim Legler, but like, like that. That's really the piece of it. Like he's 51% inside of 17ft, 31% outside of 17ft, 32% from three. It's, that's really, for him, the goal is just fighting to get a position closer to the basket. He's also 49% on runners floaters. So there you go.
- [37:15]
Greg Rosenthal
Okay.
- [37:16]
Talkspace
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- [37:49]
Pete Zayas
The 40s and free agents Podcast with Daniel Jeremiah and Greg Rosenthal has prepared you for the 2025 NFL Draft.
- [37:56]
Daniel Jeremiah
We've told you what last year's playoff teams need to return to the postseason.
- [38:00]
Pete Zayas
And how teams with new coaches should approach the draft.
- [38:03]
Daniel Jeremiah
So as draft season comes to a close, we've got you covered. Before your favorite team goes on the clock, we'll break it all down once all 257 picks have been made.
- [38:11]
Pete Zayas
Listen to the 40s and free agents podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [38:22]
Greg Rosenthal
We talked about this a little bit last show, but until the game is played tomorrow, it's still an interesting question. What are the warriors chances to make it past the Rockets, either without Jimmy Butler with a hobble. Jimmy Butler or what's the, what's the outlook there?
- [38:34]
Jason
I told you before the broadcast tonight that I viewed the Lakers now as slightly less than a coin flip. Like I viewed them as about a coin flip in Game 1. Now it's like slightly less than a coin flip. I am still, I still feel like the warriors are going to deal with Houston relative. Like I think they're going to win game three and game four. Like I, there is a, there is a, a reality in that series which is Houston cannot score against the warriors in the half court when they're really engaged and they have their guys and they're healthy, they can't. There is an element with the Lakers where it's like, well, if ant's going to hit his pull up threes and make the kickout reads like we're sol. Where like, like I actually like, I think. What do you think? What do you think is the likelihood? Let's just put it this way. Do you think it's likely? What would you pick as the more, the more likely scenario? That Jalen Green has less than 15 points in game two or that he has more than 25?
- [39:35]
Greg Rosenthal
Oh, less than 15 or more than 25? I would probably say less than 15. I'd probably say less than.
- [39:40]
Jason
Yeah, they're gonna, they're gonna tighten things up there and they're gonna get that figured out. Like, I, I, I, I think even if Jimmy Butler didn't play in game three or game four, that the warriors would win game three in game four.
- [39:53]
Greg Rosenthal
Man, that's, that's a, that's a prediction. I like that. Let's see if I can find guys.
- [39:58]
Jason
Like, there's this like reality that happens when Jimmy goes down and leaves the game and Brandon Pajemski is like clearly hampered. And like you, there is a feeling within the basketball team where it's like, oh, we, we kind of don't have it tonight, you know what I mean? And that trickles into every single element of the game, you know? And like, like they're going to come out and game like I wouldn't be surprised if the warriors won game three.
- [40:20]
Greg Rosenthal
By 20 plus Jalen Green's prop or his player props on DraftKings. Right now for game three, they -115 at 21 plus. They don't give it an exact number, which is weird. But 21 plus is minus 115, so they're expecting about 21 is the over under.
- [40:37]
Jason
Yeah, yeah. So the over under would be around like 20.5 like in that area and like that, that yeah, like, and I would take the under. I would take the under there.
- [40:44]
Greg Rosenthal
Yeah. I texted you after last game and I was like, what are the odds he has another game over 25 in the whole series? And you're like, I don't think he's getting one.
- [40:53]
Jason
This is, this is actually a crazy stat. Cause like, I talked about how Jalen Green, when he scored 30 points in the regular season, he did it 14 times and they went 13 and 1. But there were. This is, this is like crazy. This is how, this is how many times this season he scored single digits. He scored single digits 12 times. He scored fewer than 15 points 24 times. So to the, to the point, he's like almost twice as likely to fail to reach 15 than he is to get over 30. That is not like. It's just. Jalen Green always has that upside. It just is. It's so inconsistent and like, to get. If I'm a Rockets fan, having gotten it once in the series feels like a luxury.
- [41:35]
Greg Rosenthal
It's hard to imagine.
- [41:36]
Jason
It's.
- [41:36]
Greg Rosenthal
It's so crazy because it is hard to imagine him doing it again in Golden State. But if you watch game two, you're like, this dude's Anthony Edwards, basically.
- [41:45]
Jason
Dude, I can never. I've been talking about this forever with Jaylen Green and with Jonathan Kaminga, which is like the freaky athlete with some size because that's the key. It's not, it's not Scoot Henderson, it's Jalen Green in the sense that like there's some real size there and real athleticism with size is so hard to give up on because they, they really do just have sky high potential. And when they do get into their rhythm, when they start to gain that confidence, they can be a force to be reckoned with for sure.
- [42:12]
Greg Rosenthal
Let's do one more. This is a non playoff question. What's the spurs next move this offseason to. To keep the path forward to contention?
- [42:22]
Jason
Scour for vets. Your timeline is accelerated now. You have Dear and Fox, you have Victor Wembanyama. You need to be looking for players that can play at the two and the three and the four that can defend, hit threes, attack closeouts, connective playmaking, that sort of thing. From a draft standpoint too, I think, I think because you have Steph Castle, because you have Victor Wembanyama, you no longer need to be drafting for upside, you need to be drafting for immediate utility. So looking for, you know, fourth year seniors, fifth year seniors, guys that have been in college programs that Teach fundamentals really well that are going to produce a lot of pro ready role player type of guys. This is. You're. You're just looking to fill the roster with guys that can do small roles now. Like Darren Fox is absolutely fine as your primary perimeter shot creator. Victor Wembanyama is absolutely fine as a secondary shot creator. You are teed up for success. You just got to build around the margins at this point. All right, guys, that's all we have for tonight. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. Jackson, you got a movie time tomorrow morning, right? What movie you going to see?
- [43:39]
Greg Rosenthal
I'm going to see Sinners.
- [43:41]
Jason
Oh, right on. I. I need to see that. I just need to find some time. I also, Revenge of the Sith is back in the theater, so I need to go find some time to go see that too. But the episode will probably be up. The episode for the Bucks, Magic and Bucks. Excuse me, Bucks, Pacers and Celtics Magic will probably be up a little bit closer to noonish Pacific time, but none of those teams are playing tomorrow, so they'll still be available. But I think they're worth. I think those games are worth digging into because both of those teams managed to get the home win in game three. So it's worth looking at what they did to succeed. So we'll have that up in the afternoon sometime tomorrow and then live after the final buzzer rockets warriors on YouTube tomorrow night. Last note, I do have that if you're into Star Wars. We had the first three episodes of Andor come out and my buddy Luke and I recorded about a half hour long podcast reacting to that. You can find that on my Twitter feed or wherever. Get your podcast on Our two Sons podcast. Again, appreciate you guys for supporting us. Rocking with the. Rocking with the show. We will see you guys tomorrow morning. What's up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting HOOPS tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.
- [44:55]
Talkspace
The volume. You know that feeling when you're about to score 30% off. But they want your number. Ugh. Give them your line 2 number instead. It's a second line on your phone. Perfect for nabbing promo codes without inviting spam to your party. Sign up for every discount under the sun, then block the junk texts that follow. You get all the perks, but none of the spammy baggage. More codes, less chaos. Visit line2.com audio or download line2 to in the app Store and get your shopping sidekick today, because the only thing blowing up your phone should be good deals.
- [45:32]
Pete Zayas
The 40s and free agents Podcast with Daniel Jeremiah and Greg Rosenthal has prepared you for the 2025 NFL Draft.
- [45:39]
Daniel Jeremiah
We've told you what last year's playoff teams need to return to the postseason.
- [45:43]
Pete Zayas
And how teams with new coaches should approach the draft.
- [45:46]
Daniel Jeremiah
So as draft season comes to a close, we've got you covered. Before your favorite team goes on the clock, break it all down. Once all 257 picks have been made.
- [45:55]
Pete Zayas
Listen to the 40s and free agents podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.